Ahead of her Days of Our Lives Debut, Cherie Jimenez Reveals Why Her Casting as Gabi Took 15 Years — Yes, *Years*!

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It’s been a long time coming, but Gabi’s return to Days of Our Lives is finally here! When the show dropped a teaser photo of actress Cherie Jimenez, we speculated that she’d be taking over the role from Camila Banus. And it turns out we were right! Jimenez is set to debut in the role, next Thursday, June 27 as Stefan’s machinations finally start succeeding in getting Gabi out of prison.

Soaps.com spoke with Jimenez ahead of her debut, and she shared the twist of fate that brought it all about.

“Funny story,” she shared, “I actually auditioned for the role of Gabi when it was first created 15 years ago. It just wasn’t meant to be. I was 22. I had just moved to L.A. a couple of years prior at 19 and the audition came into my life.” She was just starting out and was thrilled at the role, “especially as a Latin female in this industry at the time, there weren’t really many opportunities.”

Cherie Jimenez celebrating the show’s 15,000th episode with co-executive producer, Janet Spellman-Drucker.

Credit: © XJJohnson/jpistudios.com

In the end, as she put it, the role just wasn’t meant for her — but it’s something she never forgot. “I’ll be 37 this weekend and it’s one of the roles in my twenties that always just stayed in the back of my mind.”

When it came back around a second time, she’d actually stepped away from acting for a time. She just had her son, Phoenix, two years ago and decided to be a stay-at-home mom and take a break for a bit. At least, that was thought. “The universe had other plans. I ended up filming two movies during that break.”

“And then this audition [for Days of Our Lives] came into my life,” she marveled. “What’s funny is that when it first came, it was under a different name. So I didn’t know that it was for Gabi Hernandez.” Instead, she thought they were looking at a family member for Camila Banus’ character! “I was like, ‘Well, she’s Latin, I’m Latin. This is great! and it’s the first time I’ve auditioned for days in 15 years.’”

No matter who the character was, she loved the description ” I was like, ‘All right, a powerful feisty spicy, just no-nonsense female. I love it.’” It was only when she went in to screen test for it that she found out “it was for Gabi Hernandez. And then that’s when everything started clicking. And I was like, ‘Oh my God!’”

So she did what we all do when we need to know what’s going on: She googled Camila Banus and realized that she was leaving after 13 years in the role!

“I talked to [casting director Marnie Saitta] about it,” Jimenez shared, “and I was like, ‘Marnie just so you know, I auditioned for this 15 years ago.’ She said, ‘Yes, I know. I was actually looking for your tape.’ So in a roundabout way, things that are just meant for you come back around. It’s such a beautiful thing that it wasn’t meant for me when I was 22. But for whatever reason, at 36 it came back into my life. This is a role of a lifetime. It’s a dream role.”

Sometimes, things just work out when they’re supposed to. We can’t wait to see Jimenez take on Gabi and start life over again after prison!